James Gurney

This daily weblog by Dinotopia creator James Gurney is for illustrators, plein-air painters, sketchers, comic artists, animators, art students, and writers. You'll find practical studio tips, insights into the making of the Dinotopia books, and first-hand reports from art schools and museums.

CG Art

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or by email:gurneyjourney (at) gmail.comSorry, I can't give personal art advice or portfolio reviews. If you can, it's best to ask art questions in the blog comments.

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All images and text are copyright 2015 James Gurney and/or their respective owners. Dinotopia is a registered trademark of James Gurney. For use of text or images in traditional print media or for any commercial licensing rights, please email me for permission.

However, you can quote images or text without asking permission on your educational or non-commercial blog, website, or Facebook page as long as you give me credit and provide a link back. Students and teachers can also quote images or text for their non-commercial school activity. It's also OK to do an artistic copy of my paintings as a study exercise without asking permission.

He's painting upside down for showmanship, but he's also doing it for a reason we all should be doing it. He's painting shapes, he's not painting a nose or an eye or an ear. When you paint shapes it all comes together in the end.

I saw a different artist years ago at the Uptown Art Festival in Minneapolis do a similar upside down painting,only it was of Elvis.I don't remember what the time limit was,maybe the duration of some rock music song,but it could have been 5 minutes or so.Lots of fun.

I've never talked to one of these guys, but I've seen them. My impression has always been that it's a gymnastics routine: a memorized set of planned movements, precisely executed. He's probably painted that exact same painting dozens if not hundreds of times. I bet he could do a decent version of it with his eyes closed.

Can I ask the "is is art?" question, then? I suppose in a way it's like printmaking: he presumably developed the original image, and has now learned to reproduce it by hand.